Electric equipment is used extensively in the music industry to process sound when producing a musical performance. This processing is done to achieve desirable aesthetic parameters and to amplify the sound enough for the audience to be able to hear the performance easily. The musical performer(s) must be connected to all the necessary processing equipment in said production. The sound originating at the performer(s) and delivered to the audience is in the form of an electric signal between said points. This signal may pass through a plurality of processing equipment located throughout the performance area all needing to be inter-connected with each other. This interconnection is currently being done using electric audio cable. Some deficiencies of said cable are:
1. They present a shock hazard. Musicians have been seriously hurt and even killed because through electric audio cable they were connected to a source of high voltage and high power. Members of the audience as well as audio engineers are also in a hazardous position when in the vicinity of said audio cables.
2. Electric audio cable is made from metal and dense insulating materials which must be kept relatively large in order to function adequately. Depositing a plurality of electric audio cables in a single space produces bulky and heavy obstacles which must be physically negotiated by the performers, engineers, and sometimes the audience.
3. Electric audio cable cannot be very large because the signal degrades proportionally with the length of cable it travels through. This is due to a capacitance-resistance effect inherent in said cable.
In the prior art said shock hazard is dealt with by ignoring it or by providing an insulating shield between the instrument or microphone being used and the musician(s) using it. This technique is not without inherent difficulties. When covered with a foam-rubber shield microphone performance degrades, and shielding an electric guitar would require the musician playing it to wear rubber gloves long enough to ensure that the performer's arms would not contact in anyway any piece of the guitar. Wearing rubber gloves and using rubber microphone shields are an unsatisfactory solution to the problem of potential shock hazards from the equipment because they impede the musician's performance ability.
Environmental conditions can aggravate the situation also by creating a more favorable condition for shocks to occur while performing or working with music processing equipment. (Rain, using the equipment while standing on a good conductor such as concrete, grass, or bare earth.)
A central piece of processing equipment used in producing a musical performance is a "Mixer". This device is used to equalize or "balance" all the sound originating on stage and then sending it through the final output speakers. Commonly 50 to over 100 electric audio cables will be plugged into the back of said mixer during a large performance. Said mixer is usually located close to the stage to keep all the electric audio cables being used as short as possible. It must also be located in a favorable listening position so that the audio engineers operating it may adequately hear the output sound and make any necessary corrections.
Based on these two criteria the only reasonable location for said mixer is in front of the performer's stage, directly in the audience. All the cables to and from said mixer are now within easy access to members from the audience. This is an undesirable situation which should be avoided if at all possible.